Justice Elena Kagan Defends Supreme Court Independence From Trump

Associate Justice Elena Kagan told lawyers and judges at the Ninth Circuit Conference in Bellevue, Washington, that the Supreme Court of the United States is not a "rubber stamp" or "puppet" for President Donald Trump. While acknowledging the court is "very conservative," Kagan highlighted how the judiciary has checked executive power by striking down the president's sweeping global tariffs in February and his efforts to strip birthright citizenship.

Kagan noted that while the court has blocked those specific policies, it has supported other administration goals, such as expanding executive firing authority and removing temporary protected status for migrants. She also dismissed Donald Trump's unprecedented attendance at oral arguments regarding birthright citizenship as a "non-event," explaining that he sat in a side area and left before the opposing side began its case.

Other members of the court have pushed back against claims that they serve the political agendas of the presidents who appointed them. Chief Justice John Roberts has rejected the perception that justices act as political actors, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has previously expressed concern that the court's increased use of the emergency docket creates a risk of the institution being viewed as political. Kagan also reiterated her support for creating a committee of retired judges to enforce the court's 2023 code of ethics.